Got mine on wednesday but have been too busy traveling to do much. Yes, the r09.. I'm actually talking about the r09 here and not tickets or random mics
Random observations follow.. Sorry about the length and randomness.
I am REALLY impressed. The engineering and attention to detail are outstanding. After the mt my expectations were kinda low. But it seems Edirol actually used professional engineers with experience to design and develop the product.. The microtrack reminds me of a prototype done by a student team as a class project. A class project that will never be revisited after it is graded.. Just a one-off. I can't even begin to list everything that was done better on the r09 than the mt.. Attention to detail. And so far, I haven't even found anything major to bitch about. I still dig the mt as a bit bucket but this just shows how good it could have been... Of course that doesn't mean it records better. Just means I'm likely to buy edirol in the future and likely to never consider m-audio. The people who designed/project manage the r09 live and work in a different world than the mt people. I don't think the mt team have ever recorded anything in their lives.
The thing seems rock solid in most every way.. And very frugal on batteries. I've pushed my first pair of alki AA's pretty hard. I did a fair bit of testing on wednesday. I setup mk4 > rmod in front of my VR4's and ran the rmod into the r09 (various modes), 722, microtrack and v3>722. I actually managed to produce 30 second samples before I left town but they were about 100K too big to attach so I couldn't post'em or redo them in the time I had...
I ran it off the 722 line out for one show.. I planned on running 4061>r09 as a backup for a semi-outdoor show but then remembered I'd loaned my bbox out. Major bummer there. Last night I taped it to my stand for a somewhat loud rock show. I never plan on using the built in mics but figured what the heck.. It was difficult to monitor the clip light or meters with the front facing away and everything taped over (allowing them to flash on my stand was not an option). The internal mics sound pretty good but they aren't dpa's. I ran low gain mode at about 12 on the trim. I think the levels peaked around -10. I was in the dark on this setting because I don't have docs on the gain structure and haven't had a chance to measure it.
The levels go from 1 to 30 and are numeric.. Much nicer than "third notch plus one" on the mt. BUT.. the level setting is not displayed on the record screen. I'm not sure there is a way to see the current setting without changing it (with possibly audible artifacts).
Xfer speed via the usb port is about 2.1MB/second.
As already mentioned, the ring around the record button lights solid when recording and flashes when on pause. It is easy to put a square of gaffer tape over it that still allows button operation. It is nice to be able to glance at the recorder from a great distance and see that it is actually recording. You could also leave a pinhole in the tape and get confirmation by glancing down into your shirt pocket, etc. Nice to not have to nsee the ET counter incrementing.
Battery use seems very frugal. But my use so far has been pretty random so I won't quote anything (about 6 hours of shows plus testing). The low battery warning flashes as a message across the display. Pretty nice. The consumption meter seems fairly accurate. I received the low battery warning at the encore of my last show. I was on my last sliver of battery this morning but did not get a warning until I started recording. I popped the batteries out right after and they were at 1.24volts (plain Energizer alki).
I'm using a $4 "icon" digital camera case. Fits well.
I haven't opened it up. But I see screws on the back so maybe it isn't a "pry until you cry" type of disassembly (never opened my mt either). I am curious about the internal shielding and whether we might want to add some more to protect against cellphones or whatever.
The battery door is definitely a funky design that requires some instruction and care to operate properly. It is nice that they cover the SD card slot and the USB connector to prevent an accumulation of fuzz, etc, from pocket and bag use.
I measured the mic voltage at 2.49volts. I have powered the 4061's using the MT's 4.9volts and did not encounter issues at loud and bass-heavy shows. But I'm sure the 2.49v is too low
Has anyone measured and documented the gain structure of the various settings?
I'm hoping to get caught up on some shows (hah!) and get some samples posted soon.
Topic: Edirol R-09 release information (Read 110289 times)